A view from the clouds: Cloud computing for developers

One of the things I haven't written about much here is how the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance integrates with other IBM software solutions. One of those interesting integration scenarios, and one I think is particularly useful for developers, involves Rational Build Forge.

Very simply put, Rational Build Forge is an adaptive execution framework that allows users to define completely automated workflows for just about any purpose. These workflows are represented as projects that contain a discrete number of steps. When looking at Rational Build Forge through the software assembly prism, the offering allows users to fully automate and govern the process of building, assembling, and delivering software into an application environment.

Now, on to the integration of WebSphere CloudBurst and Rational Build Forge. Users can build custom patterns in WebSphere CloudBurst that include a special script package (which I'll eventually provide a link to from here). This script package provides the glue between the deployment process in WebSphere CloudBurst and Rational Build Forge. When deploying a WebSphere CloudBurst pattern that contains this script package, users provide the name of a Rational Build Forge project as well as information about the Rational Build Forge server on which the project is defined.

Once the necessary information is supplied, the deployment process gets underway. Toward the end of the deployment, like all other scripts included in patterns, the special Rational Build Forge script is invoked. This results in the project specified during deployment being executed on the virtual machine created by WebSphere CloudBurst.

Because the Rational Build Forge project executes on a virtual machine setup by WebSphere CloudBurst, the individual steps of the project can very easily access the WebSphere Application Server environment. Thus, the Rational Build Forge project could very easily contain steps to build, package, and deploy an application into the WebSphere Application Server cell. The result is a fully automated process that includes everything from standing up the application environment to delivering applications into that environment.

I put together a short demonstration of this integration, and you can take a look at it here. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments. Your feedback is much appreciated!

When we talk about the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition, we often get a lot of questions about whether or not SUSE Linux is the only flavor of the Linux operating system that we support. The short answer to that question is no.

While it is true that we only deliver the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition with a SUSE Linux operating system, we will support the use of the virtual image packaging with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the base operating system. The basic process consists of creating a virtual machine disk based off of a suitable Red Hat install, altering the OVF file in WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition to reference this virtual disk instead of the SUSE virtual disk, and then packaging a new OVA file that contains all the same WebSphere virtual disks (profiles, binaries, IBM HTTP Server) but swaps out the Red Hat virtual disk for the SUSE virtual disk. We have done this many times in both the lab and field, and we offer services to users who need help in creating the image.

Customers often ask if there is any difference in using Red Hat versus SUSE Linux. The answer is, of course, yes and no. The answer is yes in that users must bring their own licenses of Red Hat (SUSE Linux licenses are included in the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition), and users must support and maintain the Red Hat operating system on their own. However, once the image is built, there is absolutely no difference in the use of that image within WebSphere CloudBurst.

Once built, users upload the image into their WebSphere CloudBurst catalog and it is available for use in pattern building just like any other image. I mentioned that users are responsible for updating and maintaining the image, well users can use WebSphere CloudBurst to create these updated images. When patches or updates are ready for the Red Hat operating system, the Extend/Capture facility available for images in WebSphere CloudBurst can be used to create a new custom Red Hat operating system with your desired fixes. This is all done without ever having to worry about actually recreating and repackaging the image again.

I know seeing is believing, so with respect to the "sameness" of using a Red Hat version of the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition within WebSphere CloudBurst, I've created a short demo you can watch here. As always, let us know what you think and send any questions our way.

If you've attended one of our WebSphere CloudBurst sessions then you've undoubtedly heard us talk about the "special sauce" or "WebSphere intelligence" delivered by the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance. If you haven't attended one of our sessions, trust me, we talk about it a lot, but there's good reason. This "special sauce" truly sets WebSphere CloudBurst apart from other virtualization management tools.

Essential to the uniqueness of the WebSphere CloudBurst solution is the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition virtual image that it dispenses. In one sense, the intelligence comes in the format of pre-installed, tuned, and configured software. The operating system and WebSphere components are all pre-installed, and the WebSphere Application Server configuration is tuned based on best performance practices. In addition, the image comes with a pre-configured instance of each WebSphere Application Server profile type that is available in the version that is bundled. This saves time during deployment since the unneeded profiles are simply removed.

The pre-installed, tuned, configured software only sets the foundation for what truly sets apart the WebSphere CloudBurst solution. The activation framework built inside of the WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition allows WebSphere CloudBurst to deliver unique value. This activation framework allows the single virtual image to turn into many different flavors of WebSphere Application Server (Dmgrs, Standalone nodes, Custom nodes, Job Managers, etc), and it provides the facilities to change WebSphere cell and node names, IP addresses, host names, and more while a running virtual machine instance is being created.

On a mostly unrelated topic, the changing of WebSphere cell names, node names, host names, is done with documented, publicly available commands in either wsadmin or other WebSphere Application Server binaries. I know many customers want to do this exact same thing in their existing environments, so if you are wondering how it is done, drop me a line below.

Anyway, I won't get into anymore detail here because you can get a much better assessment of this special sauce elsewhere. Ruth Willenborg, one of the lead architects for the WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance, did a developerWorks Comment lines piece about this special sauce. Ruth provides a deeper look at the topics I hit on above, and it's a really good read. You can check it out for yourself here.